>> here's a fun drama. mayor of l.a. was down in cabo with charlie sheen. when asked about it, he said this. >> i had a three minute conversation, took a picture with him. i'm in the picture-taking business. i take a picture virtually every single day 50 times and i took a picture with him. >> you know it is ramifications. >> you know what? i have never said no to anyone who wanted to take a picture. >> charlie sheen said: he also said they hung out with hot women and one porn star. who's right? >> charlie sheen's obviously telling the truth.

we love you guys and viewpoint's next. >> john: the government considers saving the economy with a trillion dollar coin. and if you have two of them, you can afford to shop at whole foods. alex jones goes so off his meds that people off their meds just went back on their meds. the american people bailed out aig with $182 billion and now they may sue us over the terms of the bailout. which is kind of like france complaining we messed up their beach on d-day. and today is the birthday of both david bowie and elvis presley, neither of whom have gained any weight since 1977. isthis is "viewpoint." >> john: good evening. in 2011, some 8500 americans were murdered by people using guns. among them some of the victims of the tucson, arizona massacre that has its second anniversary today. in all six people died and 12 more were wounded at a tucson parking lot that day when a man

later judged incompetent to stand trial fired on then congresswoman gabby giffords. according to the brady campaign to prevent gun violence, there have been more than 670 mass shootings in -- more than 70 mass shootings and today, less than a month after the most recent tragedy, the newtown connecticut, school shootings that claimed another 28 lives gabby gifford and her husband former astronaut mark kelly told abc news, they're ready to act. >> gabby and i are both gun owners. we are strong supporters of the second amendment. but we've got to do something to keep the guns from getting into the wrong hands. >> john: giffords and kelly have launched a new initiative that will encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership by communicating directly with the constituents that elect them. now, another group mayors against illegal guns has marked the anniversary of the tucson tragedy with this ad.

>> my 9-year-old daughter was murdered in the tucson shooting. i have one question for our political leaders. when will you find the courage to stand up to the gun lobby? whose child has to die next? >> john: a man who's no stranger to gun violence, retired general mcchrystal told msnbc today he wants something done to curb the epidemics of shootings. >> i think serious action is necessary. sometimes we talk about very limited actions on the edges. >> can it be done? >> john: meanwhile, vice president joe biden is meeting with groups including the nra this week as part of president obama's task force to find solutions to the epidemic. the nra said it's "sending a rep to see what they have to say." my, that's big of them. other gun fans are having their say on the internet. they're promoting gun appreciation day to be held on january 19th. gun activists are being urged to turn out at gun stores, ranges

and gun shows from coast-to-coast. we'll have a commentary on that later in the show. and if talk show host alex jones is with them, let's hope someone brings his meds. last night jones had what is now an iconically famous screaming fit which was rudely interrupted by piers morgan trying to ask questions about gun control. here's part of what alex jones had to screech. >> 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. it doesn't matter how many you get out there on the street begging for them to have their guns taken. we will not relinquish them. do you understand? >> john: only too well, sir. you need help. i'm joined by nancy bowman, a nurse on the scene in tucson two years ago when the shooting took place and along with her, helped treat the victims. nancy has a plan, part of the mayor's campaign against illegal guns. nancy bowman, thank you so much for joining us this evening. >> thank you for having me. >> john: it is a pleasure and

an honor and i thank you for your service. so, are you surprised to see so much resistance two years after the devastating shooting in tucson to any kind of sane or sensible gun control in this country? >> it's baffling to me. i cannot believe that with 3/4 of the american public supporting some common sense gun restrictionses that the congress can't move forward on this. there's really been nothing done in two years. >> john: what would you like to see nancy to help curb the epidemic of gun violence in our country? >> there are several things that can be done. i think a ban on assault weapons is a no-brainer. i can't believe that anyone would think that thomas jefferson, when he penned the 2nd amendment that they can extrapolate that out to mean that he was protecting people to carry weapons of mass destruction with 100 round

magazines and semi-automatic capacity. so that seems like a no-brainer. and then there's the fixed gun check act. i didn't know until i got involved in this that 40% of gun purchases don't even require a simple background check. so that loophole needs to be tightened. and states need to report back to the fbi system for background checks their people that should not be purchasing guns. those that are mentally ill convicted of a felon those who have been convicted of domestic violence. those people should not be allowed to purchase a gun and they should be in the system but thousands, millions of records are missing from the system. >> john: i couldn't agree with you more and i think you just said a lot of facts that a lot of americans agree with. i'm sure when the founders made the constitution, they intended for people to have as many muskets as they wanted for their well-regulated militias. >> exactly!

>> john: it is ludicrous. i think it's a fair argument there is no individual right to own weapons although i respect that debate. when did you nancy become involved in the mayor's campaign against illegal violence to demand a plan for this? >> well, soon after the tragedy here in tucson where congressman giffords was shot and six other people were murdered, mayors against illegal guns came through tucson and brought to our awareness 34 americans are killed every day from gun violence. now, i'm a nurse. if 34 people were dying every day from say west nile virus the country would be in an absolute uproar! the government would be totally involved. we would have helicopters flying over spraying pesticides, the cdc would be involved, the public health department would be involved. people wouldn't come out of their houses. but because little christina taylor green the little 9-year-old girl who went to meet her congresswoman because she

was killed with a bullet instead of killed by a bug we just turn a blind eye to it and don't do anything about it. >> john: my mom is a nurse as well nancy. i've grown up hearing a lot of healthcare professionals saying the things you say especially those who worked in emergency rooms. i have to ask, what kind of response do you get from some of your fellow arizonans when you publicly call for a change in our gun laws? >> well, you know, arizona is still a little bit of a hicktown here, you know. we grew up in the time of tombstone and such. and there are a lot of gun owners here. and i have very many friends that are gun owners. they hide behind the second amendment rights and i think that people, responsible people should have a right to own a gun to protect their property. but there is absolutely nothing that i can pull out of the second amendment that says that people should be allowed to have semi-automatic weapons, that can

massacre massive amounts of people in seconds. it took 17 seconds for the shooter at the congress on your corner to empty his 30-round magazine. a bullet, every single one of those bullets hit a person. and president of the nra says the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. well that isn't through at all. 17 seconds later after the gunman at safeway emptied his magazine the only thing that stopped him was that he had to reload. when he reloaded, colonel bill badger roger salsgainer took him down. took his magazine from him so he could not reload. anybody who thinks that somebody with 100-round magazine and a semi-automatic who is blasting through a theatre and people are being blown away all around you is going to have the wherewithal

to pull out their gun and aim and shoot is out of their mind. it happens so quickly and it is over so fast that the only thing that stops that person is if they kill themselves or if their magazine is empty. >> john: it's hard to believe it's been two years to the day since the devastating shooting in tucson and we're still having this stupid debate over and over again. while people, nancy out there are fighting to preserve the second amendment, are you fighting to preserve american lives and that makes you the real constitutional patriot. nancy bowman, thank you so much for take the time to join us tonight. >> thank you very much. >> john: and for a broader look at some of the issues, i'm joined by paul hemky a professor at indiana university public and environmental affairs and a former president of the brady campaign to prevent gun violence. good evening sir. welcome to the show. >> it's good to be on, thank you. >> john: it is great to have you as well. i want to ask you the same question i just asked nancy are

you ever shocked we're still having the same debates after all of the shootings we face in this country since tucson? >> it is amazing. i really thought that tucson was going to be the tipping point. here you had a situation where a member of congress was shot. you had the 9-year-old girl. the federal judge the congressional staffer and in my mind, if that wasn't going to move something i wasn't sure what was. we saw what happened. nothing happened in the two years and what's obvious is that we're going to keep having shootings like this until something's done and that's what we saw in newtown. hopefully this time there will be a difference. hopefully the american public will keep pushing for a change. >> john: i agree with you and it has to be the american public because i think when it comes to gun safety it has been demonstrated, the people have to lead for the leaders to follow. what kind of sensible gun control regulations would you like to see put into effect at this point? >> the last speaker touched most of the bases. first of all, we need a strong

background check system. we all agree people that are felons dangerously mentally ill, shouldn't be having guns. if we agree those people shouldn't have guns, then we need their names in the background check system and make sure we do a background check every time a gun is sold. that's the first thing. get a better list of names. put those in the system and make sure that those names are checked every time a gun is sold. after you do that, we need to say that some guns should be off-limits. we've had he strictions on machine guns since 1934. we don't see many used in bank robberies like the dillinger and al capone days. the military-style assault weapons should be treated the same way. let's make sure the high capacity, the assault clips like were used in tucson, let's make sure those on the street either. last thing is we need to stop gun trafficking and stop purchasing and have greater penalties against those who traffic. when someone can buy 81 of the same make and model of a gun we

know he will be selling them out of his trunk. that's what happens every day in this country. those are the sorts of common sense things we can do that doesn't affect anyone's second amendment rights. that can make a difference here. >> john: when you mention background checks, sir, you said the system. does that mean you support a national unified database of all guns and gun owners? >> we already have it. well, we have a national database now. we need to do a better job of getting records into the database. after the virginia tech shootings, we found how poorly recorded are those databases. the virginia tech shooter had been found by a virginia court to be a danger to himself or others. his name was not said in the system. we found out that 90% of the names, people found to be dangerous by a court dangerously mentally ill were not in the system. we found out that 25% of the felony records are in the system. we need to make sure that the states are putting the records into the system. we have to lobby the state legislators and our governors

and make sure congress is funding the act. if there is the national database, that needs to be checked on every sale including every sale by a so-called private seller at a gun show, 40% of the sales in the country probably aren't tracked at all or there aren't background checks at all. those are the sorts of common sense things that need to be done. those aren't things that violate or infringe on the second amendment. >> john: they're things that the majority of nra members agree with. one of the arguments we get when you bring up an assault weapons ban from our friends in the nra is the overwhelming number of gun assaults are committed using handguns, not assault weapons. how do you respond to that? >> we've got so many problems with gun violence in this country. it is usually pointed out we have a virginia tech happening every day in this country. 32 people killed every day. the mass killings are usually with the assault weapons. but the day-to-day shootings we see in cities like chicago the

city i was mayor of, fort wayne indiana, washington, d.c., those are happening with smaller guns but oftentimes, they're semiautomatics. they're guns that are sold by arms traffickers. they're guns that are not tracked through any of our systems. that's why strong background check system limits on the restrictionses will be helpful. we have a lot more restrictionses on toy guns and a lot more on medicines and a lot more restrictions on a lot of things. >> john: paul helmke, thank you so much for all you're doing to save american lives. >> thank you for what you're doing. >> john: coming up next, barack obama's trillion dollar coin. could it pay off george w. bush's trillion dollar bash?

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>> john: remember when republicans held the american public hostage? our republican friends are holding our economy hostage once again. a new idea may provide a way for the president to pull the country away from the debt ceiling without giving into republicans. all he needs is treasury secretary tim geithner and a trillion dollar coin. the plan revolves around a loophole in which the coinage act which allows the treasury secretary to issue a platinum coin at any denomination he want so geithner could order a $1 trillion coin mint and use the coin to buy back debt from the fed, pulling us away from the debt ceiling and avoiding another showdown with republicans. this isn't some pie in the sky plan devised by economic wonks or sci-fi fans, it actually has supporters in congress. specifically new york democratic congressman jerry nadler who has proposed bringing the idea to the floor to use as a bargaining chip saying it sounds silly but it is legal and it would normally not be proper to

consider such a thing except when you're faced with blackmail to destroy the country's economy, you have to consider things. well put. joining me now is our own platinum panel starring professor at brown university and current contributor trisha rose, forbes contributor rick unger and editor at-large for "huffington post," nick. thank you all for joining us tonight. there is a lot to cover here. i want to start with you mr. unger, since you're the guy from forbes. a trillion dollar coin. i seem to recall a simpsons episode about this. >> i wouldn't be surprised. we were talking earlier. i think what we need to do is make 16 of them. it will get us out of debt. we'll have $16 trillion in the bank. look, it actually is legal. i spent some time looking into it. it is legal. it is legitimate. it is ridiculous. you have to realize what the problem here is. yes, you could mint this coin,

put it in a vault. you can continue to borrow against that without raising the debt ceiling. there is one problem. somebody has to want to lend you money at a decent rate. that's what this is really all about. >> john: where's the money lebowski. >> yeah, if we do default on our debt, the problem is going back out into the credit markets as we do on a regular basis and say please give us more money and we really like borrowing this money at this low rate we've been borrowing at. this is a good thing. people are going to be maybe a little less interested in loaning us money at a good rate if they go wait a minute, you just told everybody who loaned to you before including us that you can't pay us. we can pay the interest but that isn't the best way to go to the credit markets isn't -- is it? >> john: trisha, when you consider this might be a feasible option for the president purely as a bargaining chip against the on stinnate republicans in the house and

senate. >> i think it is a bargaining chip as long as it is very clear that he doesn't cave in to their demands and that he's willing to hold it really at bay. in other words, we have to keep the coin in his back pocket. not the least of which so he doesn't spend it by mistake. the main thing there is to try to force the political process to address the real situation. but you know, the little bit i've read on this. it is a very complicated issue. the former mint treasury director phillip doesn't seem to think this is a terribly dangerous or problematic activity. it is both legal and according to him it does not in fact, hold long-term risk. now, you know, people are going to debate this politically back and forth but i think the real question is who's going to pay for the circumstances we're in and how. and that's the battle we continue to have whether it's debt ceiling raising taxes payroll taxes, that it is really a kind of -- both an ethical and economic question. >> john: whoever has the $3

trillion coin, they'll suggest that he gets the tax cut. president obama has said he will not negotiate with republicans over raising the debt ceiling. and yet they say that he's going to have to and they're going to make commands on him if he wants to raise it. are liberals going to say that obama is caving way too soon? >> he's already caved. already by allowing this to go to another day, that was a cave-in. we've heard him say how many times he won't negotiate with republicans. i love this idea. and i think you know, people are saying it is crazy but the other side what they're going to do is very, very crazy. but the president doesn't like to do things like this. and i can't see him actually doing it. >> john: going big? >> i can't see it happening. >> john: let's move on to another fight the president is about to face, the nomination of chuck hagel former republican senator from nebraska, for secretary of defense. rick, what makes chuck hagel harder to get confirmed? his anti-gay comments from 15

years ago his reference to the jewish lobby or the fact that obama likes him for the gig? >> probably the last. because this is all about politics. look, the gay community has for the most part, not in all cases shown a willingness to forgive his comments. he has apologized. whether it was too little, too late is something you can talk about. that's not going to keep him out of the job. what if anything -- i don't think anything will keep him out of the job. barring something else coming up. he really ticked off a lot of his fellow republicans. john mccain who once said he would make a great secretary of state now thinks he's not such a great idea. come on. this is pure politics. it is ridiculous. but it's the world that we now live in. >> john: trisha, why do republicans hate one of their own this much? because he was right about the iraq war? >> the question -- there used to be an idea about the party line but i had no idea that this line was basically something that you could choke yourself on immediately if you strayed a

quarter inch from it. i think a lot of it is about what has taken hold among the prominent members of the republican party going against democrats, in particular, against obama, is their primary job. of course, that's not true. and that's what happens when -- this is the kind of outcome you get when that's the political drive. people should be punished for that kind of political partisanship because it hurts everyone involved. i'm actually -- i think if he's going to go outside of the sort of liberal core of his philosophy, he should go to the progressive wing for a change which he hasn't done if that's what the game is. in terms of the republican betrayal, it is very much about towing the party line. >> john: i agree with you. all three members of the platinum panel will stick around for more. we'll ask perhaps the hardest question of the night. could the tipping point for a sane drug policy in this nation actually be justin bieber?

if so, can we send him to syria? that's next.

21 >> john: add a fresh face with an excellent haircut to the controversy over the war on drugs still being waged in this country, i'm not talking about me. i'm talking about the biebs justin bieber was photographed by tmz earlier this week holding what appears to be bluntly a blunt. this, of course, caused millions of believers and their moms to react in shock and outrage. not just because marijuana is completely evil and a gate would i to the eighth level of hell but because he's one of the only artists whose music doesn't sound better if you're totally baked. president obama who as a young man did not just say no before getting elected before his crackdown on marijuana has instructed the justice department not to pursue recreational users in the states of washington and colorado just like he wouldn't crack down on dispensaries in california.

the costly futile war on drugs rages on and people are still being sent to prison for using a plant that's been in a america a lot longer than white people. here with us to discuss is current contributor trisha rose, rick ungar and host of the michelangelo show on sirius x.m. i want to go to you sir. what do you think of our current drug policy, contradictions and all? >> it is ridiculous what we have seen over the past five years with this administration really becoming even more draconian than the previous administration while we now have two states that have said we're going to allow people to possess and smoke and do whatever they want, sell marijuana and now we have this administration, the same administration saying we're going to basically be hands off. it is ridiculous where you have people in colorado who were about to be prosecuted and now

they are sort of hung out to dry while everybody else can go and smoke pot. >> john: washington grew it. jefferson grew it. nowadays, they would be locked up if we locked up rich, white guys for cannabis. trisha, what should be our policy moving forward? is there a sensible path to decriminalizing cannabis that doesn't involve ron paul? >> well, goodness, i certainly hope so. you know, i think there are two sets of issues here. one has to do with the question of whether or not the federal government should really get itself in the business of having a hands off policy for state's rights. most of the time, in the history of the u.s., state's rights has been a coded way of talking about a kind of right-wing, fundamentalist usually racist, certainly anti-women reproductive freedoms. so if you're going to go hands off with the infringements on sort of the federal policy for drugs, then what's going to

happen when you have the same kinds of potential for something like abortion? i think it is important to think about this for those of us who are all happily you know, lighting up in the appropriate states, that this may work out fine in this case but we have to think about other cases. that's number one. the second one is about whether or not we should have a two-tiered legal system for prosecution which is the system is already so horribly classist and racist so that if you are poor and of color or just poor or of color any one of those three, you are so much more profoundly likely not only to be policed and harassed and surveilled but when you're arrest and when you're prosecuted, to have higher sentences and to have much greater repercussions than anyone else, that we really shouldn't encourage even further levels of disparate treatment. although i think is a good idea to be hands off temporarily this has to be sorted out in a consistent and politically coherent way. >> john: it is a great point.

rick, isn't the real perpetrator here, the need to fill prisons for the prison industrial complex. >> apparently. i have been completely befuddled by the obama administration's approach to this. i've always really wanted to know what are the politics that we're not seeing that led them to go after all of the dispensaries in california. >> john: let's assume it was re-election. >> i don't believe it was. >> john: now that he's got the gig, he suggested he would revisit american drug policy in his second term. do you think there is any chance a sane approach will be taken? >> no. because there are so many other things that will be on his agenda. he's not getting to this. but that does not explain why -- he made the statement at the beginning, this was not a big deal to him. he was going to leave it alone. i was in california. you were in california. they went right after this. i want to know why. there is an answer to this. we've never found out what it is. >> john: if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high.

i need to have some positive news here. i want to bring up a good story i heard this week. a court decided today that lgbt troops discharged through the don't ask don't tell since 2004 will now receive the rest of their severance pay. michelangelo, are we happy about this? and why only the people from 2004 and not those discharged from the '90s on. >> here we are 2013, gays and lesbians are able to serve in the military, you have all of those people who were basically treated the same way as those who did not go through successful alcohol and drug treatment. that's what the category was. you didn't get half your severance if you were homosexual or didn't complete a drug program if you had a drug problem or an alcohol problem. there are basically homosexuality and alcoholism in the same camp. and we're now fixing it for some people but not the rest of them? chuck hagel the guy who is going to fix all of this, right?

>> john: true. chuck hagel one thing i will say for the man he seems like he will be a huge advocate for veterans rights. isn't this a victory for lgbt? >> a huge victory. the problem in the inconsistency in the obama administration, why did it take the aclu to take this to court? >> why indeed. >> john: trisha, i have a question for you. according to ppp congress now has a favorable rating of 9%. chlamydia is at 12%. why is congress's rating this low after bringing us back from the fiscal cliff? >> i think any time you consistently see petty self-interests ideological warfare, no interest in the common good and a profound disengagement from the everyday citizen who is suffering enormously. i'm not talking just about the very, very bottom. i'm talking all the way through all of the class -- very class ranks up until the lofty 5%.

everyone below that is in such deep crisis that any time you see this kind of jockeying and supporting policies for mobility for wealth for the rich, it is devastating. i think people are sick of it. they see it over and over and over. they've had enough. they would rather have chlamydia. how bad can you be? >> john: trisha rose, they would rather have chlamydia than like their congressman. i can't top that. forbes contributor rick ungar and host of michelangelo, sirius x.m. i hope you'll join me on the new "viewpoint." why after eons of human evolution are we still protecting rapists? that's ahead. thinking or mood hostility, agitation depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history

of depression or other mental health problems which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked. it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

>> john: the first step in solving a problem is admitting

one exists. in india rape has long been a national problem thousands upon thousands of men and women are taking to the streets following the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in dell i had to confront their national tragedy demanding greater protection for women from sexual violence. here at home where sexual violence remains endemic many refuse to acknowledge a culture of rape exists in spite of a recent government survey finding one in five women in the united states had been raped at some point in their lives. one in five. now, what does it say about our society when, in the same week, that house republicans allowed the violence against women act to expire, video was leaked out of steubenville, ohio, where two high school football players have been charged in the alleged gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl during a night of partying? this video yes they filmed it, shows a teenage boy joking about

the disgusting assault. >> they raped her quicker than mike tyson raped that one girl. they raped her more than the duke lacrosse team. she is deader than trayvon martin though. >> john: that was a witness to a rape joking about someone else raping. joining me now is slate columnist and blogger at rawstory.com amanda and staff writer for salon.com. thank you both so much for joining us on this most grotesque of topics. we mostly wanted to discuss what it would take to acknowledge that yes there is a culture of rape in this country. what is the trouble with rape statistics? how many rapes amanda, go unreported in this country? are there any guesses? >> the range which is one of the largest organizations fighting against sexual violence estimates it is 54% they get

the numbers from government numbers. >> john: 54% of all women will be assaulted? >> 54% of women who are raped will not report it. >> john: even in the steubenville coverage and despite the general statistics indicating sexual violence against women is endemic the connection among the mainstream media coverage is hardly ever made. why do you think that is? why don't you think we hear our media talking more about the systemic culture of rape in america? >> well, i think what's happening now is some people are starting to make the connection and because there's so much popular outrage, that is helping push the mainstream media to pay more attention to this. the problem is that stories about rape become stories about individual behavior including the individual behavior of the victim. so in steubenville case, you already have defense lawyers saying things like well, she was sounding like she was sexually active on her twitter page. the reason these things become people don't want to report them, the reason the cases go on with impunity in this country even though we have more

progressive laws than india is there a culture of blaming the victim still. there is a culture of -- the football culture, through which many of the cases come, of protect the team. protect the guys. men would not talk about these things on video. they would not inta gram it or put it on twitter if they thought -- if they didn't think they were going to get away with it. people haven't made the connection because they explain away and they rationalize a culture of sexual violence and there's still so much denial about the fact that that culture exists. >> john: amanda, what lessons can americans learn from this rape case in india? >> we need to think about how we're a lot like india insofar as the reason that rape happens and especially gang rapes happen is that people don't take rape seriously as a crime. they think of it as a lark, i think a lot of the times rapists are socially supported. they know they won't get in trouble like irin said. a lot of people think of rape as

a funny way for men to exert dominance over women and it is not a big deal. i think we like to look at india and think we're so much better than them but you compare these two cases and the similarities are kind of shocking. >> john: irin, i think one of the heroes of the tragedy in india is the victim's father who chose to reveal her name. how did you feel about his choice to do that? >> well, it certainly is his prerogative. i think in any culture within the indian culture a lot of the conversation from the women activist there has been about turning the attention on the crime of the perpetrators and not focusing on the shame of the woman. so within the culture specific context, there have been a lot of women in india saying this is not about my shame. it is about his shame. i think the father is basically trying to take the power and say she has nothing to to be ashamed of. the men have to be ashamed.

we know their names and she has nothing to hide. this tragic woman who has in fact galvanized many women in india to stand up as well. >> john: amanda, do you think there is hope that we can move from a culture of victimhood to discussing being a survivor? >> that's a really good question. i hope so. i think that the feminist movement and particularly the slut walks of the past year and a half have been huge in changing the conversation away from thinking of women that are raped as sort of permanently ruined and thinking of them more as people who can speak for themselves, people who can kind of advocate for themselves and who have a life after rape. >> john: one thing's for sure, men started rape. it is going to take men like the young man in the video to stand up and be member and do their best to stop it. slate columnist amanda and salon writer, i o rin. thank you for your expertise on

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>> john: talking about biting the hand that feeds you allowing you to eat and pay off all of your friends and your ceo offices, here's a recent commercial aig the american international group, has been running. >> meetings over insurance companies. >> we were paid every dollar america lent us. >> everything. a profit of more than $22 billion. >> for the american people. >> thank you, america. >> helping people recover and rebuild. that's what we do. now, let's bring on tomorrow. >> john: let's talk about tomorrow. shall we? tomorrow aig's board of directors will meet to decide whether they want to join a lawsuit against the u.s. government. a lawsuit started by hank greenberg.

disgraced former ceo of aig who was forced out by the board in 2005 after allegations of fraud and who is currently suing the u.s. government on behalf of aig shareholders for $25 billion. their claim, that the terms of the free bailout money they received were unfair. not enough of the free money benefited the shareholders who would have had nothing had the government not bailed them out. and just allowed them to declare bankruptcy. instead, the taxpayer money was used to pay the wall street clients who held policies with aig, the ones they made promises but couldn't keep. so that very same aig that only exists today because you and me, we the people, the taxpayers gave them $182 billion in a bailout, is now suing us because their shareholders missed out on additional profits to. quote senator elizabeth warren...

>> john: this would be like the french suing because we left a few divots in the sand at arm andy. joining us is ceo of better markets, dennis kelleher. good evening. thank you for joining us. >> hi, john. >> john: hi, there. it seems like hank greenberg should write a book called "the seven habits of highly despicable people." are you shocked he's doing this in daylight? >> unfortunately, you know when you see mendacity on wall street, you're only shocked because it is not criminality which they're more expert at. but i had to laugh at the commercials that i see. they're spending millions and millions of dollars trying to convince the american people that they're grateful although it is really p.r. spin. they're not just grateful but they're wonderful people. they're going to have to say thank you so much for the bailout but we're going to sue you because we really want more of your money. >> john: the world trade center was an especially

egreenous twist at the end. it remindeds me of the bp commercials about how much better the gulf is now. >> without all of the oil spill they couldn't have cleaned it up as so well. >> john: god bless them. what a bunch of patriots. what are the shareholders alleges was unfair about $182 billion for free? >> well, the core of what he's claiming is that the bailout of aig was simply not generous enough to aig. i mean it's actually an alice in wonderland world to even come up with that thought. but this former ceo who was actually you know, resigned under distress by the board which then had to pay in 2005 $1.6 billion and restate their financial statements for many years when he was the ceo is nonetheless both wealthy and litigious and has engaged in quite a bit of lawsuits. he's claiming that -- he's suing

the federal government, the federal reserve bank and the federal reserve bank of new york saying what they really should have done is given aig much more generous terms rather than just the $182 billion. remember if, after they got the $182 billion they paid themselves hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses. so if there's anybody who should say thank you shut up and crawl back into the hole they belong in, it's that crowd. >> john: to my, it seems like a 7-year-old paris hilton screaming on christmas morning how she asked for two pone -- ponies, not one. aig knew the conditions. they could have taken bankruptcy. how can there be any validity to their statements after they signed on to this? >> it doesn't appear to be. in fact, the federal district court in new york has not only thrown out hank greenberg's case. they threw it out judge inglemire, who is very learned and well respected judge in a

90-page opinion threw it out and threw it out with prejudice which is unusual. threw it out after accepting all the allegations of hank greenberg as true and still said he doesn't state a claim although the judge did own that the allegations were worthy of an oliver stone movie. >> john: do you think the aig board is going to join the lawsuit? >> i hope what's happening here is because hank greenberg is so litigious, very wealthy and he's got one of the best lawyers in america pursuing his case, representing him even though he lost completely in court i'm hoping what the aig board really is doing is processing a decision that's going to shred hank greenberg's claims and make a decision that not only won't aig participate in the lawsuit but that aig makes its own determination that the allegations are not only without merit but irresponsible.

>> john: doesn't it seem like one of the rare stories that could unite conservatives and progressives in mutual outrage? >> well, it is. it is one of those things that actually cuts through what i call the wall street fog machine which spews out dust and jargon and complexity to intimidate and confuse most people. it is a conscious tactic that wall street uses to push people away from their business so that no prying eyes get to see what they're really doing. but let's remember. it is really part of one of the most shameful strategies that wall street has engaged in since the crisis. what they've done is they have tried very hard to change the subject from the financial crisis and their role in causing it to be debating about the dodd frank financial reform law and the rules. this is an excellent reminder to the american people that they've got to keep their eye on the arrogance and recklessness of wall street that caused what is

still the on-going financial crisis. >> john: we're going to. i thank you for doing the same. president and ceo of better markets, dennis kelleher, thank you for your time and insights this evening. thanks. >> thanks, john. >> john: for a peek at what's coming up with say anything, here's joy behar. >> thanks, john. coming up on say anything, my interview with the hottest actress in hollywood betty white. she dishes on everything from her hit tv show to her love life. >> you're in demand at 91. what about men? are they still coming on to you? >> that's none of your business. >> sorry. >> what happens when the shaws get the blahs? i find out when i sit down with the cast of the reality show. >> that's good. that works. you're in that one? >> no. >> he needs it.

>> i think they need marriage counseling because they love each other. or else they wouldn't fight like this. >> coming up right after more "viewpoint."

>> john: it's been a busy month for america's second amendment fetishiveses as the irresponsible gun owners who believe in res regulation are clog up your airwaves explaining how the lower allies with less murder rates are less safe than we are. they're announcing gun appreciation day. on january 19th, gun owners, sane and otherwise are encouraged to go to the local gun range or gun shows with protest signs and copies of the constitution presumably with the words well-regulated militia blacked out. the heroes who will help win the battle for sensible gun regulation are the sane gun others of america people like gabby giffords and mark kelly. americans who understand it is possible to make america safer without